And the back alleys have that familiar smell of wet leaves, lost dreams, and oil from Shell

[sovay]

Rabbit, rabbit! The end of March disappeared like so much of the month before it in a total lack of sleep. I did not spend most of it as I wished. Current plans are for April to start out differently at least. Wish me luck. Have some links and no joke.

1. Francesca Forrest's The Bee Wife (2025) is a luminous, deceptively plainspoken short story that reads like a cross between a fable, a folktale, and a family story and does not resolve exactly as any of these modes might lead the reader to expect. The beautiful cover illustration is also the author's work. Any day now she could come out with a collection and I would rejoice.

2. Via Gillian Daniels: a fundraiser for the legal support of Rümeysa Öztürk, organized by her legal team.

3. By now JewBelong has scraped industriously through the lithosphere as well as the bottom of the barrel and is starting on the upper mantle, but Anthony Russell's rebuttal and musical receipts are on point.

4. I love to discover new poetry by R.B. Lemberg, in this case "The blanket, the secret, the dark" (2025).

5. I would in fact read a book entitled Blatant Lies About Citrus Fruit.

I am still not especially sleeping, but managed to dream about meeting the future inhabitants of the house of my childhood and they seemed to be doing all right, which would be nice.

Comments

[teenybuffalo]

Someone in the rebuttal responses on Bluesky said "it's a kvetch 22 sitch" and I LOLed.

[sovay]

Someone in the rebuttal responses on Bluesky said "it's a kvetch 22 sitch" and I LOLed.

Yes!

[selkie]

Columbus' country we should set on fire.

*hugs*

Edit:
“*stomps on floor* ‘You hear that down there, Strom?’”

[sovay]

“*stomps on floor* ‘You hear that down there, Strom?’”

Listen to that rotisserie!

*hugs*

[sabotabby]

Oh, thank you for the fundraising link. I had a moment of hesitation about displaying my name publicly since I'm going to the US but if we don't want people like Rümeysa Öztürk to get disappeared, people like me have to risk getting denied entry, I guess.

[sovay]

Oh, thank you for the fundraising link. I had a moment of hesitation about displaying my name publicly since I'm going to the US but if we don't want people like Rümeysa Öztürk to get disappeared, people like me have to risk getting denied entry, I guess.

You're welcome. I was so glad to see it. And good luck with the U.S. and its borders.

[ride_4ever]

Hmmm...what is this "JewBelong" thing?

Meanwhile, the comment here about "kvetch 22" made me LOL.

[julian]

They're an informational non-profit group who have put up billboards and Instagram posts. They're in theory trying to be welcoming to Jewish folks who have felt unwelcome, and yet, their political messaging is, I would say, confused. So they are sort of difficult to describe.

[sovay]

They're in theory trying to be welcoming to Jewish folks who have felt unwelcome, and yet, their political messaging is, I would say, confused. So they are sort of difficult to describe.

Even before October 7th, it was highly unclear who they envisioned as their target audience and they have kept on putting up billboards in Porter Square and I have kept on wanting to vandalize them. At this point I have them currently characterized as not helping at best and most of the time a shande.

[julian]

Yeah, I can't remember if the first one I saw was "Radicals ruin America" or "Let's be clear, Hamas is your problem too," but either way, I was *not charmed*. (They rent out one of the rotating billboards on I-95 South.)

[sovay]

(They rent out one of the rotating billboards on I-95 South.)

I wish they wouldn't.

[yarrowkat]

they have a billboard up in Albuquerque saying "throughout history, the good guys never hide their faces." which i, a covid-conscious immunocompromised person who masks in all public places for my health, would love to smash into a thousand pieces.

[sovay]

they have a billboard up in Albuquerque saying "throughout history, the good guys never hide their faces." which i, a covid-conscious immunocompromised person who masks in all public places for my health, would love to smash into a thousand pieces.

In the same position, I'll hold the sledgehammer for you.

[asakiyume]

Thank you for the belly laugh that I got clicking on "Blatant Lies About Citrus Fruit"--truly curative in this day and age.

And thank you to the link to a new R.B. Lemberg poem! Love their work.

And thank you from every corner of my heart your words about "The Bee Wife." My audience is small, but I cherish every person in it.

(Also hurray for a fundraiser for Rümeysa! And I need to understand context for the last link--which I will get when I click through--but musical receipts sound promising.)

[sovay]

Thank you for the belly laugh that I got clicking on "Blatant Lies About Citrus Fruit"--truly curative in this day and age.

You're welcome! The grapefruit assassin made me think of one of my still-favorite drawings by Ursula Vernon "Balthazar Disdains the Lemon" (2004).

And thank you to the link to a new R.B. Lemberg poem! Love their work.

I checked in at the start of the week with Strange Horizons and it was a most pleasant surprise!

And thank you from every corner of my heart your words about "The Bee Wife." My audience is small, but I cherish every person in it.

Your work is wonderful and I am not the only person who would spring for a collection of your fiction and poetry.

(Also hurray for a fundraiser for Rümeysa!

I wish all the strength to her legal team.

And I need to understand context for the last link--which I will get when I click through--but musical receipts sound promising.)

My favorite version of "Di grine kuzine" was actually sung by the mother of a friend of mine, but probably the first I heard was Theodore Bikel.

[rushthatspeaks]

I was promised blatant lies about citrus fruit, but limes are all bastards. So much for truth in advertising.

[sovay]

I was promised blatant lies about citrus fruit, but limes are all bastards. So much for truth in advertising.

I can't slate any citrus fruit I enjoyed eating out of the rind until dentists told me to stop!

[rushthatspeaks]

I didn't say they weren't tasty! I said they're all bastards. I mean, one entire group of them used to call itself by a racial slur.

[minoanmiss]

I am tempted to submit my favorite citrus fruit to be lied creatively about.

sends all restful vibes

[sovay]

I am tempted to submit my favorite citrus fruit to be lied creatively about.

You should! I want to know what they say about kumquats.

[gwynnega]

I too would rejoice at a collection by Francesca Forrest.

Yay, new poetry by R.B. Lemberg!

[sovay]

I too would rejoice at a collection by Francesca Forrest.

Thank you for supporting what has just become my campaign to convince the author!

Yay, new poetry by R.B. Lemberg!

I love their work so much.

[osprey_archer]

If enough of us say it, perhaps Francesca will put one out!

[sovay]

If enough of us say it, perhaps Francesca will put one out!

From your lips to her ears!

[asakiyume]

Wow, just back from reading RB Lemberg's poem for-real for-real (rather than just noting it). It's beautiful. It's like a sestina, the repeated words! I love it.

[sovay]

Wow, just back from reading RB Lemberg's poem for-real for-real (rather than just noting it). It's beautiful. It's like a sestina, the repeated words! I love it.

Yes! I hadn't seen a new poem of theirs in a while and this was a particularly strong one.